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Aurangzaib Yousufzai June 2017

Thematic QuranicTranslation Series Installment 7

(IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

Consciousness, Death of Physical Organism,

Torture in Graves and Resurrection

explained in the true light of Quran

PRELUDE

Some questions are answered here in the light of Quranic injunctions which
may lead to remove some of the prevalent misunderstood concepts about the
themes shown in the title above. These questions were raised during a
debate between some Quranist friends some time ago and the writer was
asked to answer in the form of a proper article to help future referencing in
times of need.
Question:
Arent the following Verses clearly denying the concepts of Consciousness,
Torture in the Graves and the Period of Interval between physical death and
eventual Resurrection of Spiritual Self :-
Verses: 2/154-155; 16/20-21; 3/169-170; 22/58; 23/12-16 ???
( Also added here are Verses : 23/16 and 23/100.)

Answer:
You have advanced at least three separate questions to be answered, and
those stand like this :-
1) Rebuttal of the concept of Consciousness
2) Rebuttal of the concept of Torture in the Graves

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3) Rebuttal of the Interval between Death & Resurrection

1) CONSCIOUSNESS (2/154-55 & 16/20-21)

You are mistakenly treating the words Yasharoon ( )or
Tasharoon ( )- used in purely verbal form in the Verses you have
referred to - as the noun Consciousness. No Sir. This verb in its present
context denotes the act of perceiving or knowing or having some sense
thereof. Look at the Root meanings of this verbal form :-
= Shiin-Ayn-Ra = to know/perceive/understand, to acquaint, perceive by
senses: make verses, remark, poetry, poet, verse, art of poetry, feeling,etc.
On the contrary, the noun Consciousness in its academic perspective bears
much deeper meanings. So much so that even the LIFE itself is the other
name of Consciousness because Consciousness is the essence of all living
things. The entire field or science of Psychology deals with Consciousness,
viz., mans Conscious Self.
Here are those Verses, translated in a Rational manner to highlight the verbal
use of the word Shaara:-
Verses 2/154-155:


And say not of those who are slain in God's cause, "they are dead": nay,
they are rather alive in a higher stage which you perceive not in your
present stage of life. And most certainly shall We continue giving you
opportunities for your evolution to higher stages by passing you through
fear, and hunger, and loss of worldly goods, of lives and of labors fruits.
So, do give glad tidings unto those who exercise patience in adversity.

Verses 16/20-21:

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Those beings that some people invoke beside God cannot create anything,
since they themselves are but created: they are dead, not living, and they
cant even perceive when they will be raised from the dead!

As for the concept of Consciousness, we found nowhere in the referred

Verses a clear or even distant and ambiguous suggestion leading to denial of
this concept. Wherever in these Verses you come across glad tidings of a
future New Life, it always means a life of pure Consciousness which is
neither a material nor visible form of life. It is because the physical death is
imminent, and physical life has no point to return once again as it is
governed by the Laws of Nature. And Consciousness is not material or
physical and cant be perceived with naked eye. If the physical form of life
returns in the same old stead, in the same physical stage of creation, it cant
be called a new and more evolved life form. At the same time, in the process
of nature, almost certainly, no reverse gear can be applied. Time is linear,
not circular. So it doesnt recur or come back. Only a journey towards more
and more advancement with a higher form of life than the present, and
evolution to higher degrees of Consciousness is envisaged.
Check the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics which proclaims that natures
processes proceed in only one direction, and cant be reversed. The entire
process of Creation practically confirms the same underlying course of
action or purpose. In Quran it is called Siraatum Mustaqeemun a stable,
straight and forward looking Path. The next higher, and perhaps the last and
the ultimate stage, is the stage of purely conscious or spiritual life which has
appropriately been given the name of the Hereafter in Quran; and for
which preparations continue to be made during the present physical+semi
spiritual stage of life. For that phenomenon substantial undeniable and
highly manifest signs keep constantly appearing before us.
It is not known how you conceived the idea of rebuttal of Consciousness.
From the genesis till our present times whatever has emerged, developed and
has appeared before us through the successive acts of creation, always
reflects the presence of Consciousness. Its level and its values have been
getting higher and higher with the creation of every new stage of life.
Eventually, at the human stage of creation, this conscious level has reached
its hitherto highest level. It means that it has reached the level of Self-
Consciousness, which is a level that no creation before us has been blessed
with. It means that in every stage of creation, consciousness has

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successively been developing from its lower values to higher ones and
finally, in the human form of life, it reached the highest stage yet of Self-
Consciousness or Self-Awareness. And it is worth mentioning here that
self-awareness is in reality the stage of awareness by a creation of its
Creator.
Those who have some knowledge of Sufis lives they also are likely to know
the fact that every Sufi seeking to know the Creator immerses himself into
the depths of his own inner self. He knows that Creators attributes are the
great inheritance of a creation and these attributes are transmitted into its
inner self before it is created or takes birth. It is worthwhile to mention here
that every creator, whoever he might be, is in fact craves for manifesting his
own unique qualities and potentialities, and he fulfils this desire through the
act of creation.
.
2) THE THEORY OF TORTURE IN THE GRAVES
There definitely is the rebuttal of the concept of Torture in the Graves in
Quran, as in the entire length of Quran no mention of it can be found.
Theres the mention of physical death, then disposal of the body, and then, at
some undetermined point in time, the resurrection of mans immortal
Conscious Self, free from its previous material entity, called the Life of the
Hereafter. That is what is usually called the Spiritual Life. In this entire
process or system no punitive action of the kind of retribution is conceivable
in the graves in view of the obvious reality that many other modes and
means, apart from burial, are also practiced, through which human bodies
are entrusted back to the nature for a useful disposal.
Here is the most relevant Verse, rationally translated :-
Verse 23/16:

And then, behold! after all this, you are destined to die; and then, behold!
you shall be raised from the dead on the day the last Stage of creation is
established/launched.

3) THE GRAND INTERVAL CALLED BARZAKH

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As for the Interval called Barzakh in Quran, in the common sense it is

that period which accrues between the physical death of the organism where
mans inner conscious self goes to a deep hibernation, and its re-awakening
in the form of resurrection in a future higher stage of Life.
This Interval is confirmed by Quranic injunctions, and theres no authentic
justification to reject this concept. No one can know of this Interval as to the
length of its duration, whereabouts of the human conscious self and its
nature and station of safe custody, or whether it is going to be a total
conscious black-out or not. We can only speculate. No flight of thought even
at a lightning speed would be able to afford a satisfactory answer in this
respect. The more you delve into its intellectual depths, the more complex
questions may arise in your minds with almost no tangible explanations.
Ultimately a consensus will be reached, which man has already concluded
through his knowledge and observations, that living at a lower conscious
stage, no creation is capable of acquiring the knowledge and information
about a stage much higher in conscious values than its own stage.
It is quite rational too for the reason that in our normal life, no school
student can know about the education given in a College, or no college
student can know about the higher education given in the universities. It is
identical to animals that, being in a lower stage, living with much lower
conscious values, cannot comprehend the conditions and values of mans
higher stage of life. On the other hand, man living in the most advanced
stage of life or consciousness yet, is destined to know all about the four
earlier stages of creation which function with much lower conscious values
than what he possesses.
Here is the meaning of Barzakh, or the Interval between now and the
upcoming stage of life called Hereafter:-
Ba-Ra-Zay-Kha = a thing that intervenes between two things, a bar/obstruction
that makes a separation, the interval between the present and that which is to come,
from the period of the death to the resurrection, what is between doubt and
certainty.

barzakh n.m. 23:100, 25:53, 55:20

The most relevant Verse is translated hereunder :-

Verse 23/100:

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.until, when death approaches any of them, he prays: O my Sustainer!

Let me return, let me return [to life], so that I might act righteously in
whatever I have failed ! Nay, it is indeed but a meaningless word that he
utters: for behind those who leave the world there is a barrier until the Day
when all will be raised from the dead!

Here is a rational translation of the rest of the Verses you have referred to,
hoping to clear the puzzles in a satisfactory manner. By the way, what these
Verses are trying to prove in a clear way is the certain existence of an
upcoming higher stage of life the promised existence of a Hereafter.
Verses 3/169-170:

But do not think of those that have been slain in God's cause as dead. Nay,
they are alive! With their Sustainer they are provided with their means of
sustenance/evolution

Verses 22/58-59:

AND as for those who forsook the domain of evil in Gods cause, and then
were slain or died - God will most certainly provide for them beautiful
means of evolution for, verily, God - He alone - is the best of providers;
[and] He will most certainly cause them to enter upon a state of being that
shall please them well: for, verily, God is all-knowing, most forbearing.

Verses 23/12-16:

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NOW, INDEED, We have created man out of the essential ingredients of
clay, and subsequently caused him to remain as a drop of sperm in firm
keeping, and then We created out of the drop of sperm a germ-cell, and then
We created out of the germ-cell an embryonic lump, and then We created
within the embryonic lump bones, and then We clothed the bones with flesh
- and then at this point of completion of physical organism, We turned him
into a new, different and higher kind of creation: hallowed, therefore, is
God, the best of artisans! And then, behold! after all this, you are destined to
die; and then, behold! you shall be raised from the dead when the last stage
of creative plan is established () .

Here, like some other places in Quran too, the process of human birth is
detailed step by step. It can be expressed in many ways adhering with the
divine wording and the latest discoveries in medical and anatomical
sciences.

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Important words translated:-

Rizq (): All resources and grants leading to mans evolution and
sustenance. This sustenance is material as well intellectual and educational;
particularly bestowed by God.

Fi Sabeel-il-laah () : The way Gods plans and purposes are served;

in the service of Divine cause; any act or process leading to that path.

Khalqan Aakhir () : A different kind of creation, different and higher

from the physical or animal organism being discussed.

Youm al-Qiyamah () : That promised era or point in time when a

pre-planned creative stage is established/launched, which is higher in
conscious level from the current stage of life.